KWEKWE - HIV patients set to undergo their CD4 count check in order to start their anti-retroviral treatment (ART) here are being turned away in high numbers by health officials on the basis that their machines can only accommodate a total of 10 patients per day.
A high turnout of people who tested positive, attempting to get their CD4 cells checked at Kwekwe General Hospital (KGH) expressed dismay after being turned away on several occasions. I have been coming here for the past four weeks but Im told Kwekwe General Hospital has already selected enough patients for the day. Is that normal, leaving people to die right at the hospitals door step? What is happening to the Aids levy? That money should be used to purchase adequate (CD4 count) machines, said a patient who had been turned away.
Other patients revealed that some health officials were taking advantage of the situation to solicit for bribes from desperate patients because they believed the machine could serve more than 10 people a day. These are deliberate tactics by health officials to frustrate patients in order to solicit for bribes, said another patient.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MOHCW) has since instituted investigations. The National AIDS Council (NAC) chief executive officer Dr Tapuwa Magure, also revealed that the health ministry had recently purchased four modern CD4 count machines, which were already in use and had a capacity to accommodate 400 samples per day.
Post published in: News